Pravash Pradhan
Post News Network
New Delhi, June 5: Uncertainties over setting up of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Orissa may mar the prospect of opening the premier institute from the new academic session.
According to sources, admissions to the new institute in Orissa may be postponed for one year as hardly two months are left for the new academic session to begin.
“The states that were able to finalise the locations for the permanent campuses of IIM and were approved by Centre will start admissions from the coming academic year. Land issues in Orissa and Punjab have hit the ambitious projects,” said a ministry official.
The Centre had announced five new IIMs in Orissa, Bihar, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra last year. Of these, the site-selection committee has approved the sites for new IIMs in Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra.
When asked about a meeting of a senior state government official with the MHRD secretary V S Oberoi to discuss about IIM, the official, on condition of anonymity, said the meeting which was scheduled earlier has been cancelled. This was communicated to the state government and there is no such meeting now, the official added. “The new secretary has joined recently. He does not want to take any decision in haste. There is no meeting scheduled yet to discuss Orissa IIM matter,” said the official.
However, the employment, technical education and training secretary AK Tripathy claimed that he had met Oberoi Friday evening and submitted a memorandum to consider the proposal to set up IIM in Sambalpur
It is however learnt that the site selection committee had finalised and recommended Gothapatna for IIM. Later, the state government sent a proposal to the Centre to open it near Sambalpur.
“Nothing has been decided about the Central team’s visit to Sambalpur. It is in a fluid situation. So nothing can be said at this juncture about the final site for IIM in Orissa,” the official added.
